Volume on CDs

[ImaStupidBaby]

Why is music so much louder now? I played a song on Blood Sugar Sex Magik followed by a song on Californication using iTunes. The second song "Easily" was much much louder than "Mellowship Funky". It seems like rock and metal are just excessively loud now. or am I just hearing things?

 

[Kosko]

you're actually totally right. I read an article that said records are compressed and eq'd nowadays to be as loud as possible and have that real in-your-face sound

 

[ImaStupidBaby]

are they meant to be played on special CD players without volume knobs or something?

 

[Captain Chaos]

And what is wrong with records being louder nowadays?

 

[WalterBush]

And what is wrong with records being louder nowadays?

When they're over-compressed to accomplish volume, and ignore the dynamic range available to CDs, the sound becomes mushy, and detail becomes lacking. It can turn a nice, dense-sounding mix into a pile of mush that's indistinguishable from the last band you listened to.

Over-compression kills the harmonics and transients of a signal, altering its character significantly. It's one of the reasons so many bands sound like they're all using the same gear.

It can also make an album physically painful to listen to, Morph the Cat and Vapor Trails being prime examples. Ever wonder why it's harder to sit through a whole album these days? Slamming a CD's volume level and removing dynamic range is a major contributing factor.

 

[metallinostheos]

I read a great article on this about 5 months ago. In the 80's, records were peaking at -14 DB or so. Now many of them peak at -6 or higher. Like stated above, it does lead to ear fatigue. People just don't sit and enjoy a full album anymore. It's almost always on shuffle or you listen to half a disc, and throw a new one in, or listen to it while doing other things and it becomes background noise. Listening to music is becoming a lost art because it is harder to sit and listen to something that is mixed so loud.

 

[soulgeezer]

It seems like rock and metal are just excessively loud now. or am I just hearing things?

No, you're getting old, Grandpa!

Now,...

Get offa my lawn!

 

[bocasfx]

This is a very good article about the 'Loudness Wars'.

Invalid Link Removed

 

[metallinostheos]

Here's the article I referenced earlier. It's pretty good.

Invalid Link Removed

 

[Josh Ryan]

are they meant to be played on special CD players without volume knobs or something?

they are meant for people who like noise and low detail, but like the feeling of everything being loud. Background noise basically, which is what a lot of people spend money, or steal, music for.

 

[Baryonyx]

Yep, we get hotter CD's these days...an article I read on Vapor Trails was rather good...still a brilliant album though, but you need good speakers to get a good listen to it. On my portables speakers it just sounds like an abrasive mush!

 

[Bob Lee (QSC)]

Some media player apps have an "oscilloscope" display mode where you can watch the audio signal waveforms. A surprising number of CDs are actually mastered with "digital clipping," and produce flat-topped waveforms.

 

[Matthew Bryson]

Some media player apps have an "oscilloscope" display mode where you can watch the audio signal waveforms. A surprising number of CDs are actually mastered with "digital clipping," and produce flat-topped waveforms.

Yikes! Won't that send a DC current to your speakers and fry them? Or is that only if your speakers are under-powered?

 

[AdlerAugen]

The articles linked to in this thread are very interesting...I'll have to remember all this when I get my own professional recording studio in the next decade (I'm 17, I've got time.)

 

[lemur821]

Yikes! Won't that send a DC current to your speakers and fry them? Or is that only if your speakers are under-powered?

Nope, they still alternate. It's just that they go from near full one way to near full the other way instead of hanging around in between. And yes, it does present a hazard to your speakers. The one thing we can be grateful for is that they won't start clipping them any more, as it's not really possible without blowing equipment up way too often.

 

[joeyl]

10 years ago, I read an article in Bass Player, it was the special recording issue, and it said that most records are loud so that the bass and treble are more apparent, and that made records more impressive. Who cares if the listener gets tired after 2 songs, he (consumer or label exec) already bought the CD

 

[Rattman]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Captain Chaos
And what is wrong with records being louder nowadays?

When they're over-compressed to accomplish volume, and ignore the dynamic range available to CDs, the sound becomes mushy, and detail becomes lacking. It can turn a nice, dense-sounding mix into a pile of mush that's indistinguishable from the last band you listened to.

Over-compression kills the harmonics and transients of a signal, altering its character significantly. It's one of the reasons so many bands sound like they're all using the same gear.

It can also make an album physically painful to listen to, Morph the Cat and Vapor Trails being prime examples. Ever wonder why it's harder to sit through a whole album these days? Slamming a CD's volume level and removing dynamic range is a major contributing factor.

And here I was blaming my "over-sensitive" and "obviously aging" hearing for my lack of interest in purchasing new band's CDs. Why? Because I also was wondering if all these new acts bought all their gear over the internet from the same website. All sonic nuance has been effectively eliminated to my ears anyway.